This invention is related to apparatus for towing mobile homes and more particularly to a truck-mounted apparatus having a hitching ball that is movable in six directions to adjusted positions along three mutually perpendicular and linear paths of motion.
Mobile homes manufactured in recent years have become increasingly longer and wider. Many such homes are parked in a permanent location. However, their size and length makes movement into a confined area difficult with conventional towing vehicles. For example, in a typical mobile home park, the home must be maneuvered onto a cement pad so as to clear various obstacles such as trees and utility supports with close clearances. The conventional mobile home has a standard coupling which engages a ball carried by the towing tractor. It is often difficult to mate the ball with the coupling without considerable maneuvering of the tractor to precisely locate the ball below the coupling.
In addition, conventional commercial towing tractors employ a ball that is carried by a pivotally mounted arm in such a manner that the ball swings in an arc as it is being raised from a lower position. Such an arc cause the mobile home to move horizontally a sufficient distance to strike obstacles such as trees and the like as the mobile home frame is being raised. Still another problem with conventional towing apparatus is that in order to maneuver the mobile home into a close fitting location, the tractor itself must often be removed into a position from which it is difficult to remove the tractor.